Rude Britannia TV - Sophocles - Lucy Worsley TV - Andrew Marr TV - Melvyn Bragg TV - Robin Williams - Will Self - Rory Bremner - David Owen - Ian Hislop - Jonathan Swift - Tina Fey - Cyril Osborne - Frost on Satire TV - Vladimir Nabokov - Michael Moore - Art Buchwald - P J O’Rourke - Jonathan Swift - Lord Byron - Voltaire - Kevin Kline - Umberto Eco - Tom Lehrer - William Cowper - Alexander Pope - Simon Schama TV - Christopher Hitchens - Drunk, Stoned, Brilliant, Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon TV - Games Britannia TV - Aldous Huxley - W H Auden -
This was the colourful world of satirical and humorous prints. Rude Britannia I: A History Most Satirical, Bawdy, Lewd and Offensive, BBC 2010
Isn’t it the sweetest mockery to mock our enemies? Sophocles
A new force in Georgian society – satire. Dr Lucy Worsley, The First Georgians: The Germans Who Made Britain I, BBC 2014
A group of public schoolboys and Oxbridge wits rediscovered satire. They were touring the country in what must be Britain’s most famous revue show ever – Beyond the Fringe. The Queen came to see the show at London’s Fortune Theatre where she found a long-faced comic genius called Peter Cook slicing up the prime minister ... Nothing like it had ever happened to a British prime minister before. Andrew Marr’s History of Modern Britain, BBC 2007
These new satirists [Beyond the Fringe], unlike most of the post-war comedians, were university and often public-school educated. Melvyn Bragg on Class and Culture II, BBC 2012
People say satire is dead. It’s not dead; it’s alive and living in the White House. Robin Williams
I think the satirist gets up in the morning and thinks, Why cars? Why huts with wheels on the corner? ... Why do we have sex lying down? ... Swift was as great in terms of satire as Shakespeare was in terms of tragedy ... Who isn’t indebted to Swift? Will Self, author
If it hits the target, if it’s funny and it’s true and if it’s sharp, then it’s satire at its best. Rory Bremner
I think comedy and satire are a very important part of democracy, and it’s important we are able to laugh at the idiosyncrasies or the follies or vanities of people in power. Rory Bremner
Satire is different to humour – it’s edgier, it’s tougher, it’s more daring, more adventurous. David Owen
If you’re looking for concrete results, satire doesn’t tend to produce them. Ian Hislop
Satire, being levelled at all, is never resented for an offence by any. Jonathan Swift
I don’t think there should be limits. Tina Fey
It’s hard not to write satire. Juvenal, A.D. 60-C.130, Roman satirist, Satires bk 1
8Satire is what closes Saturday night. George S Kaufman, American dramatist
Satire and this folly for which you stand would leave our country – if it was the only thing we’d got in our country – leave us hungry. Wealth comes from work. Sir Cyril Osborne MP, in conversation with Bernard Levin 28th September 1963, That Was the Week That Was
Has that satire ever had a real effect? Can shows like Spitting Image, Rory Bremner or Saturday Night Live change the political landscape? Frost on Satire, BBC 2010
That Was the Week That Was: here for the first time ever was a satirical series that tackled the issues of the day head on. ibid.
We took the show to America ... After the second season they pulled the plug. ibid.
The seeds for challenging authority had been sown. ibid.
Saturday Night Live created a show that skewered American society and its key political figures. ibid.
There were parodies, there were politicians and most important of all there were puppets. Spitting Image went on air 26th February 1984. ibid.
Like Spitting Image, Bremner and his team set about the political figures of the day. ibid.
Shown just a few weeks before the election, despite its late night slot, at its peak it’s been estimated that over seventeen million people were watching Tina Fey as Sarah Palin. ibid.
[Jon] Stewart’s show [Daily News] continues in its role as watchdog over the political process. ibid.
Bill Maher is able to vent his opinions with relatively little interference. ibid.
Are there any limits? Can it ever go too far? ibid.
Satire is a lesson; parody is a game. Vladimir Nabokov
You can’t debate satire. Either you get it or you don’t. Michael Moore
You can’t make up anything any more. The world itself is a satire. All you’re doing is recording it. Art Buchwald
Satire doesn’t effect change. P J O’Rourke
Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own. Jonathan Swift
Fools are my theme, let satire be my song. Lord Byron
Satire lies about literary men while they live and eulogy lies about them when they die. Voltaire
When you have satire, it has to be real. No matter how outrageous the comedy becomes, you have to believe in the characters. Kevin Kline
Political satire is a serious thing. In democratic newspapers throughout the world there are daily cartoons that often are not even funny, as is the case especially in many English-language newspapers. Instead, they contain a political message, and the artist takes full responsibility. Umberto Eco
Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel peace prize. Tom Lehrer
Unless a love of virtue light the flame,
Satire is, more than those he brands, to blame;
He hides behind a magisterial air
His own offences, and strips others’ bare. William Cowper, Charity, 1781
Satire’s my weapon, but I’m too discreet
To run amuck and tilt at all I meet. Alexander Pope, Second Book of Horace I:71
A revolution in art: attack portraits ... The lethal weapon was laughter. Comic satire twisted the face of power and exposed it to the snigger of the streets. Face of Britain by Simon Schama, BBC 2015
News on the March: Nixon Nominated For Nobel War Prize. Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon, article, Sky Arts 2017
This totally outrageous voice that was screaming, Here I Come. ibid. reader
Nancy Reagan’s Guide to Dating Dos and Don’ts by Doug Kenney. ibid. article
First Blow Job by Doug Kenney. ibid.
Children’s Letters to the Gestapo by Michael O’Donoghue: Dear Heinrich Himmler, How do you get all those people into your oven? We can hardly get a pork roast into ours. ibid.
Welcome Vulgarity Lovers! Here’s Your Very Own Copy of The Liz Taylor and Richard Burton Gift Catalogue. ibid.
Guns and Sandwiches: The Finest in Its Field. July 1974 $1. ibid.
Telling a Kid His Parents are Dead. ibid.
Vietnamese Baby Book. Baby’s First Wound. ibid.
If You Don’t Buy This Magazine We’ll Kill This Dog. Jan 1973. ibid.
The Sixteen Amazing Differences Between Lincoln & Kennedy by David Smith. ibid.
Are Jews White People? Technically, yes, but … ibid.